Ilford Galerie FB Grade 2 paper discontinued?

George Hart

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Sadly it appears that grade 3 is all that is available at the moment, and how long that will remain in production we don't know. The sales person at Mobberley this afternoon said that grade 2 was discontinued ~2 months ago, and she gave no reason. Does anyone have experience of both grades? I have used grade 2 alone over many years, and it would be helpful to know if the 2 grades are reasonably close on this paper.
 

Oren Grad

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Grade 2 is no longer listed on the Ilford/Harman website - only grade 3. I'm sure the reason is one or both of the two familiar ones - sales too low and/or some ingredient required in production became difficult or impossible to get and it was not feasible to find a replacement.

Per the Galerie FB data sheet, the ISO range specifications for grades 2 and 3 are 110 and 90, which is the same as the filter grade 2/3 specifications for MG FB Warmtone.
 

DREW WILEY

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GR 3 tends to be more widely used; but Galerie in general seems to be a dinosaur on the very edge of extinction. Sadly, it's the last of the classic premium graded papers. The once diminuitive variable contrast mammals have evolved and taken over the world.
 

msage

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Sad, I always preferred graded paper.
 

DREW WILEY

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Well, a serious selection of graded papers disappeared long ago. Just this afternoon I was thumbing through random nearly empty sleeves of Portriga, Seagull G, Galerie, EMaks, Luminos, Brilliant Bromide. Several of these product were temporarily reincarnated under new ownership or new formulations, none of which was worthy to bear the original name.
 

chip j

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They are killing analog photography by doing away w/ CLASS. Printers who buy VC are partly to blame, but what else can they buy?
 

Alan9940

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I guess the demise of graded papers is all part of the "demise" (so to speak) of analog photography which is now considering an alternative process. That said, quality graded papers can obviously still be made; MAS's Lodima, Adox Lupex, Foma Fomabrom. Perhaps these papers are all coated in one factory, but it doesn't seem impossible to make quality graded papers even with the lack of some ingredients. Just sayin...
 

Doc W

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Is anyone else making graded paper?
 

Svenedin

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The Ilford RC is still available in grades 2 and 3 on the Harman web-shop (UK). I much prefer graded to MG but I don't use fibre paper as it uses too much water to wash it.
 

DREW WILEY

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Some of today's VC papers are superb, and are apparently more cost effective to make than premium graded papers, particularly if you factor in how one product replaces the need to mfg the same thing in multiple grades. As much as I too miss certain classic graded papers, there's nothing inherently amateurish about VC options. Just adapt; you don't really have a choice.
 

Lachlan Young

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chip j said:
They are killing analog photography by doing away w/ CLASS. Printers who buy VC are partly to blame, but what else can they buy?
Click to expand...

You've evidently never come up against the limitations of graded paper, nor seen what the current papers can do with even a small amount of technique. As much as I like G3 Galerie, Fomabrom etc, the Multigrade papers easily equal if not exceed the graded papers in many aspects. What defines 'class' in a paper anyway?
 

chip j

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The prints I made on Galerie--the subject--usually classic cars--looked like 3-D silver sculpture.
 

Doc W

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chip j said:
Slavich (Russia) makes graded FB papers, available from Amazon.
Click to expand...
Thanks Chip.

Have any of you guys used the Slavich paper?
 

DREW WILEY

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The paper that had a feeling of depth to it, as well as a DMax that rivals the black hole at the center of the galaxy, was the ole Zone VI Brilliant Bromide. It would probably be unaffordable these days. Galerie doesn't come close; but the Ace that it does
hold is that it has far less drydown shift than any other paper, just a tiny bit. So the wet print tells you almost exactly what you'll get when the print is dry.
 

Old-N-Feeble

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The three types of multigrade paper I tried (decades ago) didn't tone well. Kodak RST came oddly uneven and changed hue depending on what grade filter I printed with. I'm sure things have changed quite a bit since then.
 

Bill Burk

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I guess I could use MG without a filter. That's supposed to be grade 2.
 

DREW WILEY

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I routinely print VC papers just as if I were using Grade 3. But if there needs to be a tweak in local or general contrast, the ability to do so is built-in. In fact, I'm digging up old negatives that once gave me hell, but now are easy to print. That certainly wasn't the case with early VC papers, which were anemic.
 

MattKing

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Bill Burk said:
I guess I could use MG without a filter. That's supposed to be grade 2.
Click to expand...
Better to use it with the No. 2 filter. That way, if you subsequently decide to change the filter and contrast, the necessary exposure change (if any) is much less.
 

mshchem

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The latest Ilford Multigrade papers are fabulous. The only graded paper I truly miss is DW Ektalure G, and Medalist F, and Azo DW , Azo postcard stock, Fomalux etc.

I seemed to have strayed from my original point. I'm pretty damn happy with Ilford VC papers, Foma too. Other than stocking up on Fomalux, I haven't bought graded paper in 15 years. I was forever spoiled by Forte Polywarmtone, that paper is schizo when toned. Split toning gone wild. Fun though.
 

Bill Burk

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MattKing said:
Better to use it with the No. 2 filter. That way, if you subsequently decide to change the filter and contrast, the necessary exposure change (if any) is much less.
Click to expand...
Haaa I know I am being a hypocrite. I’m always complaining that I would never use MG without a filter, because then it’s hard to judge the next step.

But in this case I am using it as grade 2. If the contrast isn’t right I can still get grade 3
 

Bill Burk

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I buy three papers - Galerie 2, Galerie 3 and MG that I use for 4. New plan is to use MG for 2 and 4
 
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